February

*Courtroom mayhem: 48 people charged in connection with an anti-poverty demonstration outside the Queen Elizabeth Hotel on Dec. 3 appear in Quebec Court for their day of legal reckoning. Unruly behaviour in court leads to further charges of civil disobediance.

*Nagano Olympics: Canadian Snowboader Ross Rebagliati carves his way to Gold only to be stripped of his medal after testing positive for marijuana. Using the clever I-don't-use-drugs-but-the-people-I-hang-with-do excuse for having THC in his system, Rebagliati wins his medal appeal and returns to Whistler to become a pothead hero and a Roots model. Canada scored a total of 15 medals, its best ever show at a Winter Olympics.

*Ivana Trump, entrepeneur and one of the world's most famous divorcees, arrives in Montreal as part of the Unique Lives & Experiences women's lecture series. Trump discusses her passion for life and her ads for such franchises as Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken. By lecture's end, many have already walked out on the talk.

*Musical innovator Shinichi Suzuki, 99, dies in Matsumoto, Japan. He invented the Suzuki Method, a revolutionary music instruction program by which young maestros learn through imitation and memory instead of theory and notes.

*Thousands of protesters riot in Indonesia, burning shops, houses and cars, and venting their anger at President Suharto and Chinese traders, who they blame for massive unemployment and soaring prices. An IMF $40-billion bailout did little to ease the plunge of the Indonesian currency.

*Saturday Night Live veteran Adam Sandler returns triumphantly in the silly comic romance The Wedding Singer. Drew Barrymore plays his love interest and Billy Idol makes a cameo appearance.

*On the 22nd, Saddam Hussein agrees to lift his ban on arms inspections at his presidential properties, narrowly averting a second Gulf War. But Iraq-U.S. tension continue.

*Little boy lover and former Seattle teacher Mary Kay LeTourneau is caught in a steamy car with her 13-year-old lover after having her 7.5 year sentence for second-degree child rape commuted to 6 months on the condition that she keep away from her teen toy.

*Under the severe eye of Finance Minister Paul Martin, Canada balances its budget for the first time since 1969-70.

*Proof that Bill Gates, the world's richest man, isn't immune from the old pie-in-the-face prank. The Microsoft mogul gets pied outside a meeting in Brussels. He was "surprised and disappointed" but reportedly unhurt by the creamy dessert.

*Michael Hendricks, Claudine Metcalfe, Roger LeClerc and Douglas Buckely-Couvrette, four of the city's most seasoned gay activists, announce their withdrawal from activism. They cite government negligence as one of the reasons why.

*Bran Van 3000 rerelease Glee and start their quest for superstardom in earnest. "Drinking in L.A." becomes a hit, while drinking in Montreal remains as popular as ever.

*Mixmaster Morris, who has been around since the dawn of rave, when people wore T-shirts with happy faces and the words "acid house" on them, makes an intimate appearance at Isart this year, and shows no sign of either slowing down or running out of ideas.

*Those stylish rock steady soul men Hepcat play Cabaret, giving third-wave ska a 10-minute reprieve before it's taken 'round back of the barn.